Mike Priefer returned to his job as the Vikings’ special teams coach this week after serving a two-week suspension for making an disparaging remark about homosexuals during a team meeting in 2012.
One of the conditions that Priefer had to meet in order to return after two weeks instead of three was to undergo sensitivity training. Priefer said that it was hard to watch the team play games on television, but that he found the training to be a worthwhile experience that will have a lasting impact on him.
The details, we’re going to keep those confidential,” Priefer said. “But I will tell you this: It was real positive. It was very professionally done. And like anything else in life, if you put a lot into it, you’re going to get a lot out of it. I tell my kids that, I tell my players that. So I went into it with a great attitude and I got a lot out of it, quite honestly,” Priefer said, via the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “I don’t know if I’ve changed, but I think I have more awareness of my surroundings and other people around me. I think I’m a better man because of it.”
The Vikings players were happy to have him back. Fullback Jerome Felton told reporters that the team gave Priefer a standing ovation at Monday’s team meeting, something Priefer said he’ll look back on as “one of the great things that’s ever happened to me as a football coach.”